Hi,
Does anyone have thoughts on whether Air Canada will eliminate the PR requirement in the future? There are many people who have an open work permit and a valid license.
thanks
My thought: no they won't. This is for two reasons.
The first is that even though there is a pilot shortage, there are enough pilots in Canada with a
PR card or citizenship who can fill the vacant positions. What will likely happen before they remove their citizenship or landed immigrant status is that they will reduce their fixed-wing flying time from 2,000 hours to 1,500 hours. Once that pool is dried up, they will change their license requirements from an ATPL to a CPL. Once that is dried up, they will lower the experience level to 1,000 hours. By the time this happens though, the next downturn will likely be under way and while they will not likely lay off pilots, they will not be hiring any.
The second, and I would argue the more plausible reason, is that ALPA would attempt to shut any such move down. Allowing Air Canada access to an even wider pool of pilots removes a significant part of the union's negotiating capital and, therefore, would negatively impact future contracts. No union chair would agree to that without major concessions from the company. Now, the counter-argument is that the union has no say over who the company hires. While that is true, most contracts include a line that says the company will exercise its rights under the contract fairly and reasonably. The union could argue that removing a barrier to entry that suddenly allows the company access to a much wider group of pilots, especially while a new contract is being negotiated, would not be negotiating fairly and reasonably as the effect on negotiated pilot wages would be huge and negative. Outside of negotiations, while the union can't do too much about it, such a move would likely sour the relationship between the company and the union, and that's not what either party wants as the next negotiations are always right around the corner.